Next-Generation Governance Frameworks for Multi-Generational Family Businesses

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.63345/ijrmp.v12.i10.5

Dr. Sohrab Bharucha

Director Operations

Spica Group

Pune, Maharashtra, India

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4195-6191

Abstract— Multi-generational family businesses play a critical role in global economic development, yet many struggle to maintain long-term continuity due to fragmented governance structures, succession challenges, increasing organizational complexity, and the rapid pace of digital transformation. Existing governance models primarily address individual dimensions such as corporate governance, family governance, or succession planning in isolation, offering limited support for integrating these elements into a unified decision-making framework. Furthermore, current approaches rarely incorporate governance maturity assessment, innovation oversight, digital governance capabilities, sustainability objectives, and quantitative performance evaluation within a single governance architecture. To address these research gaps, this paper proposes a Next-Generation Governance Framework (NGGF) that combines corporate governance, family governance, succession governance, innovation governance, sustainability governance, and performance governance into a comprehensive governance model for multi-generational family enterprises. The framework introduces a quantitative Governance Maturity Score (GMS), Governance Readiness Index (GRI), Governance Risk (GR), Innovation Governance (IG), and Successor Readiness (SR) models to objectively evaluate governance effectiveness and organizational preparedness. The proposed methodology is validated through an empirical study involving 312 multi-generational family businesses using structured governance indicators and statistical techniques including reliability analysis, factor analysis, multiple regression, and structural equation modeling. Experimental results demonstrate that organizations implementing NGGF achieve higher governance maturity, stronger succession readiness, improved governance transparency, enhanced innovation capability, reduced governance risks, and greater long-term organizational resilience compared with conventional governance approaches. The structural model exhibits strong explanatory capability (R² = 0.87), confirming the positive contribution of integrated governance mechanisms to sustainable business continuity. The proposed framework provides a scalable and practical governance model that supports professional management, preserves family legacy, strengthens strategic decision-making, and enables sustainable value creation across successive generations. The findings contribute to the advancement of governance research by presenting an integrated, measurable, and future-oriented governance architecture suitable for modern family enterprises.

Keywords— Family business governance, multi-generational family enterprises, corporate governance, family governance, succession planning

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